Taking glimepiride with other medicines and herbal supplements

Cautions with other medicines

Some medicines affect the way glimepiride works. Your doctor may need to adjust your dose of glimepiride. They may also recommend checking your blood sugar levels more often.

Tell your doctor if you're taking any of these medicines before starting to take glimepiride:

• steroid tablets such as prednisolone
• medicines used to treat heart problems, high blood pressure or high cholesterol
• medicines to treat bacterial or fungal infections such as clarithromycin, co-trimoxazole, miconazole or fluconazole
• rifampicin, an antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis (TB)
• other diabetes medicines

You may need to adjust your dose of glimepiride after starting contraceptive pills. In rare cases, contraceptive pills can increase blood sugar levels.

Taking glimepiride with painkillers

It's safe to take paracetamol with glimepiride.

But check with your doctor or pharmacist before taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with glimepiride. NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or high-dose aspirin can sometimes lower your blood sugar level.

Mixing glimepiride with herbal remedies and supplements

There's not enough information to say that herbal remedies or supplements are safe to take with glimepiride. They're not tested in the same way as pharmacy and prescription medicines. They're generally not tested for the effect they have on other medicines.